Grant recipients discuss challenges and opportunities at the convening in Jackson at the program’s conclusion. Photo courtesy of Mississippi Humanities Council.
The Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC), the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities serves the state by addressing issues that are considered critical by its citizens and promoting informed conversation about the state’s past and present. In this spirit, the MHC created the Racial Equity Grant program in 2017, to commemorate the state’s bicentennial by addressing Mississippi’s complicated racial history and current divisions. With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the initiative supported 50 programs throughout the state undertaken through partnerships with 45 local organizations. According to MHC’s Stuart Rockoff, these partnerships ensured that “communities themselves could decide what would fit, what would work, what was needed in their community.”
“This was a wonderful experience. The MHC grant was only the second one I have received, and the entire staff was supportive and helpful with it. I am already thinking of ways to develop more grants in support of students, on and off campus, and the wider community.”
–Grant recipient/convening participant
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Participants examine historic artifacts in former slave quarters as part of their tour “Behind the Big House,” funded through the Racial Equity Grants program. Photo courtesy of Mississippi Humanities Council.
In Hattiesburg, the program facilitated reconciliation between the University of Southern Mississippi and the African-American community. A lecture series, historical marker, and documentary film designed for incoming freshmen addressed the University’s history of segregation through the story of Clyde Kennard. Kennard, an African American man, was denied admission to the school, wrongfully convicted of a crime, imprisoned, and then fell ill and died. In Holly Springs, local residents and humanities scholars provided a more complete and accurate picture of antebellum life to those visiting the community’s historic mansions during its annual spring pilgrimage. Over 950 people experienced their “Behind the Big House” tour of former slave dwellings in 2017 and the MHC is working to expand this program to other communities. And in Tupelo, the program inspired a six-month community dialogue about contemporary race relations that attracted 182 participants, two-thirds of whom were white. A large majority of participants reported that the series was “very effective in fostering community dialogue” and “very useful [for] address[ing] racial issues in their community.”
Tupelo community members discuss race relations as part of a grant-sponsored community dialogue. Photo courtesy of Mississippi Humanities Council.
The project expanded the council’s reach and partner organizations’ capacity. An outreach coordinator helped small organizations navigate the grant process and, as a result, more than half the of the 45 grant recipients were new partners. Thirty percent of the grantees had no paid staff and many had never written a grant before. Following the initiative, representatives of 35 of these partner organizations convened in Jackson to discuss challenges encountered, lessons learned, and ideas for future public humanities projects promoting racial equity. In recognition of the program’s impact, the Racial Equity Grant program was awarded the 2018 Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for outstanding public humanities programs by the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
